Wales battlers frustrated as Russia strike

RUSSIA...2 WALES...1

Wales boss John Toshack was bitterly disappointed that his young side failed to claim a point from their World Cup qualifier in Moscow.

The Welsh had fought back to grab an equaliser through Joe Ledley late in the second half, but finally lost their Group Four match in the Lokomotiv stadium.

Wales missed an early penalty through Tottenham’s Gareth Bale before conceding from the spot soon after as Roman Pavlyuchenko, Bale’s new team-mate in north London, netted.

But despite coming under fierce first-half pressure, Wales battled back and felt they deserved a point before substitute Pavel Pogrebnyak’s late winner.

In the second half we were the better side

John Toshack

Toshack said: “We did not have too much possession in that first period, they pinned us back and then we missed a penalty before conceding one.

“But in the second half we were the better side, so to lose the way we did after fighting back to square the game is bitterly disappointing.

“In that second period I felt we deserved a draw. I wasn’t pleased with the first half, we were too deep and didn’t press their midfield players in possession.

“Then to lose to a soft goal when we should not have allowed the ball into the box, and then failed to clear it when we had the chance, was a real blow.

“But I was disappointed for my team. They worked very, very hard. I’m satisfied with the performance generally and a lot of our young players learnt a lot out there against one of Europe’s best sides. We scored the best goal of the night, a super effort made by Gareth Bale, who was outstanding. But in the end we needed to show better technique in the way we defended, certainly for the winner.”

Russia boss Guus Hiddink was not surprised by Wales’ impressive show. He said: “You expect that performance from a British side, they always show great spirit.

“They did not panic in that first period when we played some really excellent stuff. We could have had two or three goals then and I felt we deserved the win. But Wales have a lot of young players and they kept in the game after watching us play so well in that first half.”

Toshack also reacted to a statement from Cardiff over striker Paul Parry, who announced his international retirement this week after a fall-out over his involvement in the Azerbaijan match.

Cardiff now say that Parry has not retired, but does not want to play for Toshack, who said: “I am unaware of Cardiff’s comments, was it attributed to someone or just a statement from the club?

“Paul was told he would have played in Moscow and to go away and think about it. But he did not change his mind and said he wanted to retire.

“As far as I’m concerned it is over with now. This is not the first time he has made himself unavailable, and when he came back the first time he went straight into the starting line-up against Georgia. He was on the bench on Saturday and would have played here. We have six subs, Russia have six subs, everyone does. It is a squad game.”

Captain Simon Davies said Wales gave their hosts too much respect in the first half. “Going in 1-0 down at half-time was hard to come back but we dug in, came back and to lose it at the end was very, very hard to take,” he said.

“We gave them too much respect in the first half. In the second half we played our game, got up the pitch and got at them a bit. We believed in ourselves and gave them a good game.”